As antenna systems grow smaller, space between antenna elements in those systems becomes more scarce. Not only does the spacing between antenna elements have the potential to affect the radiation pattern of a system, but it can also affect the amount of mutual coupling between antenna elements. Mutual coupling is inductive/capacitive coupling between two or more antennas, and it can sometimes result in unwanted performance degradation by interfering with signals being transmitted or by causing an antenna element to radiate unwanted signals. Generally, the closer the placement of two antenna elements, the higher the potential for mutual coupling.
Accordingly, modern antenna designers generally look for ways to decrease coupling (i.e., increase isolation) between some antenna elements. This is especially true for multi-channel systems, as the signals on one channel should usually and ideally be unaffected by the signals on other channels and antenna systems which require plural antennas to operate at the same frequency or in a close frequency band but to work independently of each other.
Some antenna systems employ antenna elements placed above a ground plane. In such systems, the antenna elements can induce currents in the ground plane that travel to other antenna elements and increase undesired coupling. To decrease the coupling, various techniques have been devised. For example, one solution has been to split the ground plane so that two antennas that might interfere are not connected by a continuous ground plane. However, such systems generally produce an inadequate amount of isolation.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,629,930 a three-dimensional antenna system is disclosed in which first and second antenna elements are positioned above a ground plane. A bandstop filter is positioned in the ground plane to attenuate signals caused by mutual coupling. While the use of a bandstop filter in this configuration assists in antenna element isolation, there remains a need in the art for improved antenna element isolation in other antenna configurations.